


Left Amongst the Rubble

by An_Abundance_of_Soph



Series: The Eppes/Granger Equation [4]
Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Established Realtionships, F/M, FBI Case, I'm really sorry, established universe, family fic, serious emotional trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-04-30 19:58:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 18,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5177765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/An_Abundance_of_Soph/pseuds/An_Abundance_of_Soph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This new addition to the Eppes/Granger Equation series occurs 3 years after the conclusion of 'This Life We Live'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Hayley looked across at her husband as they drove through the LA streets.  
“Colby please promise me that this is not going to end the same way our last double date with David did,” she begged. “He will literally kill us if we screw up another relationship for him, so no mentioning religion, politics or money.”  
“Oh come on, Hayles,” Colby replied with a grin, “It never would have worked between Emily and him, I mean she believed that we should follow Britain’s lead and have our police not carry guns. Really?”  
“Yeah, ok. I agree that she was weird but that’s not the point. Just behave,” Hayley replied as they parked and walked towards the restaurant.

David and his date were already seated at the table when they arrived, so they quickly made their way over and took their seats.  
“Hi guys, sorry we’re late,” Hayley apologized, “It took longer than expected dropping the kids off at Alan’s.”  
“Not a problem Hayley,” David replied with a smile, “This is Jenny. Jen these are my friends Colby and Hayley.”  
“Nice to meet you,” Jenny smiled, “How old are your kids?”  
“Alexis is 10,” Colby replied, “and Liam, just turned 8.”  
“Oh, how great,” Jenny replied. “So you guys have been together for a while then.”  
Hayley smiled at her husband before replying.  
“Yeah, we started dating, what, 13 years ago? And we just had our 11th wedding anniversary.”  
“That’s incredible,” Jenny said as the waiter approached the table and they ordered their meals.

“So what about you Jenny,” Hayley prompted, “What do you do for a living?”  
“I’m a nurse over at UCLA Medical Centre?” Jenny replied, “But that’s boring, you all have the interesting jobs. David tell me you’re a mathematician, Hayley?”  
“Ah yeah,” Hayley replied, “I’ve got my doctorate in applied mathematics but I’m just another Fed now.”  
“Really?” Jenny asked in response, “That’s quit the career move. What lead to that?”  
“Well I was working as an in-house mathematician with the bureau and I got all the same training and qualification as any other agent so about 3 years ago I did the final few courses and got my badge and I’ve been working in the field ever since. Although I still work a lot with the maths.”  
“That’s so incredible,” Jenny exclaimed as their food arrived.

The rest of the meal went well, with conversation flowing easily until David’s phone rang halfway through dessert.   
He spoke for a few moments before hanging up, putting his phone back in his pocket and faced the couple across the table.  
“We’ve got to hit the road team. The alarms just tripped at the Federal Reserve Bank. I’m sorry Jenny.”  
“It’s ok,” Jenny replied, “Go. I’ll settle the bill and get a cab home.”  
“It was fantastic to meet you Jenny, we will have to do this again sometime soon,” Hayley replied as she handed over the cash for their half of the bill. Within minutes the three agents were out the door and driving straight towards the bank, sirens and lights blazing.

~***~

“What are we looking at Don,” David called out as they approached the scene.  
“We’ve got three perps still inside, no hostages and the exits are covered,” Don replied as the everyone strapped on their tactical gear.”  
“Are we going in?” Colby asked.  
“Sure are,” Don agreed, “Just waiting for the snipers to get into position. David I need you to take Colby, Hayley and Ben and get ready to breach the front door. Nicki, Mark and Ethan are going to take the side entry. Megan and I will stay outside a coordinate your movements through the building. Watch each other’s backs in there, guys. Be ready in 5.”

~***~

“Nicki, you guys have anything?” Don called over the radio.  
“Not yet Don,” Nicki replied, “are we sure these guys are even in here? I mean we’re heading up the secondary staircase at the back of the building now, but I’m not seeing a thing up here.”  
“We’ve got nothing either Don,” Colby added, “I honestly don’t think our guys are still here.”  
“Wait a minute,” Hayley said pausing a looking up towards the ceiling, “Guys what is that?”  
David and Colby turned and walked back towards Hayley, looking up to where she was pointing.  
“See up there on the left, that dark green thing poking out of the… Holy Shit, BOMB!” Hayley screamed.  
“Everybody get out of the building!” David yelled over the radio, “There’s a bomb!”  
They started to run and over the radio that heard the sounds of the second team also running through the building. Hayley breathed heavily as they rounded a corner into the room just off the main lobby. Ben and David ran ahead of her, while she could hear Colby running right behind her. As Ben and David disappeared through the doorway and into the lobby the first explosive detonated, rocking the building. Further explosions detonated throughout the building and Hayley heard the distinctive sound of the upper floors collapsing above them. 

As the ceiling above the team began to crack, David and Ben reached the front door of them building, turning in time to see the ceiling start to cave on their teammates. Dust billowed from the doorway, forcing the boys dive away from the building and as the dust began to settle Don came running up towards the fallen agents.  
“What the hell happened in there?” he yelled as he approached them.   
“Don it was a setup, there was no robbery. Whoever it was wanted us inside that building,” David explained.  
They were interrupted by the sound of coughing coming from just inside the building. Don ran towards the sound and moments later emerged from the rubble, pulling Hayley across the ground by the shoulders of her flak jacket. She was coughing heavily and struggling against her father. David ran over towards them as her voice rose.  
“Let go of me!” she yelled, “He’s still in there. I can get to him! Let go of me!”


	2. Chapter 2

“I think I can find a way for us to get in there,” Hayley declared to the group crowded around the blue prints and scans. “Our problem is that we have all this data and no way to compile it. We have thermal imaging and sonar mapping of the debris inside along with countless other maps of the building. What I’m proposing is that I can take all these individual data points and create a single 3D map and then using existing search methods I can find the best way into the building using Holling’s disk equation.”

All the agents gathered around her stared without understanding so she continued.

“Holling’s is the basis of all classic search techniques that use the foraging method. It supposes that an animal hunts out its prey dependent upon three key assumptions; decision, currency and constraints. Which just means that the animal needs to think about how much time it has, how much energy it has, the prey’s abilities and then it will weight all these factors and decide on the best way to take down its prey.”

“How does that help us get to Colby, Nicki, Mark and Ethan?” Ben asked in the silence.

“We’re just like the animal,” Hayley explained. “We need to get to our agents but we’re limited; by the environment of the building, the risk of making the structure more unstable and the time we have to get them out before… Before it’s too late.”

“How long do you need?” Don asked.

“I don’t know, get me all the data you have on the building and the agents and if there’s any way to get any update on their medical status that will help immensely,” Hayley informed the group before walking away and grabbing hold of the closest notebook, already scribbling equations.

~***~

An hour later, Hayley stood abruptly, throwing her work down on the table with force as she screamed in frustration.

“What is it?” Megan asked from where she sat nearby.

“I can’t think!” Hayley yelled, “I can’t focus because this isn’t a case. This is Colby and I need to focus but I just keep hearing the explosion and then the silence when everything fell.”

“Then what do you need?” Megan said, standing and walking towards the younger woman.

“Charlie,” Hayley replied reluctantly, “I need Charlie.”

Without another word, Hayley reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, dialing the familiar number and placing the phone to her ear.

“Charlie, I need your help,” Hayley said.

“What’s going on?” Charlie asked casually, unaware of any of the events of the night.

“I’ve got this search algorithm I’m trying to produce using Holling’s disk equation but I just can’t get it to work and I need to get it right and it won’t and I need your help Charlie...”

Charlie interrupted his nieces rant, growing concerned by her agitated state.

“Hayley, what case is this? I know that you know how to apply that kind of algorithm so what is it that’s clouding your cognitive process?” Charlie replied.

“It’s Colby,” Hayley explained. “there was an explosion and the roof collapsed and I need this equation to get him out Charlie, but I can’t think straight. I know I need to focus on the numbers and the data in front of me but I can’t stop thinking about why I need to focus.”

“I’m on my way,” Charlie said, already heading towards his car, “where are you?”

~***~

Charlie arrived at the scene in record time due to the empty streets in the late hour. As he climbed out of his car, he starred in shock at the ruined building in front of him, dread building in his gut at the thought of Colby and the other agents trapped inside.

Hayley spotted him within minutes of his arrival and motioned him over the where she had set up a work station.

He pulled her into a quick hug before she pulled herself together and began explaining what she has already been able to calculate. Once he was caught up on the equation he quickly began working, flipping through Hayley’s pages of notes and rifling through the scans and maps laid out before him as he typed furiously at the laptop.

They worked for hours into the night working on ways into the building and preparing equipment and their bodies for the moment they got the all clear to go in after their agents.

As the hours dragged by, emergency services worked at slowly moving the debris field, piece by piece, careful not to unsettle the whole thing and bring in crashing down on those stuck inside.

~***~

“God dammit!” Hayley yelled, kicking out at a nearby chair in her frustration. In response to her outburst Ben looked over towards her with concern. They were all nervous and worried about their trapped teammates but everyone knew this was hardest on Hayley and were giving her a wide birth.

“I fell so useless!” she vented.

“The technicians just arrived with the infrared thermography equipment,” Don informed her, “Why don’t you go help them set it up.”

“Yeah,” Hayley agreed thankfully, “Yeah, I can do that.”

Hayley spent the next hour setting up the infrared scanners and once they were in place and recording the agents finally got there first real look at their trapped team.

By this point in the rescue mission they had all memorized the original layout of the building and when the scans appeared on the screen they could clearly make out the shape of three people towards the rear of the building near the second staircase that they had been descending when the first explosive was detonated. They also identified a fourth signature on its own, huddled under the remains of the central staircase of the main lobby. Hayley breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the outline of her husband lying amongst the mottled gray of the crumbling building.

“They’re all still alive,” David announced, and the team couldn’t help but smile at this brief glimmer of good news.

“I’ll get this scan over to Charlie so he can enter it into the equation,” Hayley announced as the technician saved the data they had collected onto a USB and handed it to her.

“Ok,” Don agreed, “Then I need looking over the scans to see if you can map us a secondary path. We need a backup plan in case something goes wrong. We’re only going to get a few chances to get into them.”

Hayley nodded and then ran over towards Charlie. The sun was beginning to rise while she updated him with the new scans, but the soft light did little to raise her spirits as she began pouring over every map and scan they had of the collapsed bank.


	3. Chapter 3

It was mid-morning when the voice rang out across the area where they had set up their temporary command center.

“We just lost a thermal signature,” the voice called.

Hayley’s head snapped up from where she was poring over the maps and scans of the building. She quickly dropped her work and ran towards the tables where a bank of monitors had been assembled.

“Which signal?” she asked desperately as she stopped beside Don, who was staring at the screen solemnly.

“It’s one the group of three at the back of the building. They’ve all been steadily getting weaker over the last hour or two and then we just lost this one,” the technician announced, pointing to the dark smudge on the screen towards the back of the building.

“So either Nikki, Mark or Ethan are dead?” Don asked quietly, to which the technician nodded sadly before continuing.

“I’m getting pretty worried about this signature further towards the front entry way,” he continued, “It’s getting very weak and based on experience, I don’t think your agent has much more time.”

“That’s Colby,” Hayley choked. “We have to go in!”

“Go see what Chuck’s got and I’ll get the team ready to move in,” Don agreed. “We can’t wait any longer.”

~***~

“What are you doing Hayley?” Don asked.

“I’m gearing up,” Hayley replied calmly as she adjusted the strapping on her jacket.

“You’re not going in there,” Don said, grabbing his daughters arm as she attempted to turn away from him.

“Yes I am,” Hayley countered defiantly, turning back to face her father. “I’m sure you think I’m too emotional and that I’m not clear headed enough but I’m ready. And you need me in there. You have to send in two separate teams from both sides of the building to get them out of there and you need all hands on deck to do that. When you gave me that badge you trusted me to do my job, now let me.”

Both father and daughter remained silent for moments as the stared at each other, searching for something in the other’s eyes. It was Don that blinked first, nodding as he let go of her arm.

“Ok, finish getting ready and head over to David,” Don conceded. “You’re going in with him, but listen to your comms Hayley. If I tell you to pull out, you do it, ok?”

 

10 minutes later Hayley and David were once again standing near the front entrance of the building, ready to move in. Only this time they weren’t armed with guns, moving in to arrest to perpetrators, this time they were preparing to make their way through the rubble to rescue Colby. As they waited for Don’s call, Megan and Ben prepared themselves to make a similar entry by the side door.

“Alright team,” Don said over the radio, “ready when you are. Be careful in there and remember to move slow, the smallest movement could bring everything down on your heads.”

David and Hayley shared a silent glance before turning and making their way inside the darkened building.

It was pitch black inside, away from the bright spotlights set up outside and dust still floated through the air, highlighted in the beams of their flashlights. They slowly crawled through the small gap just inside the door before they came across a small area with two tunnels leading away through the wreckage.

“Don we’re at the first fork,” David announced into his radio.

“Ok David,” Don replied, “You guys know the plan, David you take the path to the right, while Hayley takes the smaller path to the left. Be careful.”

Hayley nodded to David before beginning to crawl through the opening to her left. Apart from the sound of her breathing it was incredibly quiet in the darkness and she began to softly hum to herself as she navigated her way. She managed to make her way over to what she thought was probably the left hand wall of the main lobby before she was forced to angle back the way she had come only barely heading towards the back of the large room where Colby’s thermal signal had been picked up. She climbed over what may have been a water pipe and cursed as she got tangled amongst some lose wiring. Once she got herself untangled she continued to crawl her way back to towards the center of the room.

Meanwhile David crawled his way over towards the right hand wall of the lobby where Charlie had located a gap between the debris and the wall that ran all the way to the back of the room. He followed slowly. Cautiously squeezing his large frame through the tight spaces, careful not to move the concrete and rebar around him and risk causing another collapse.

Outside, Don watched nervously as the two heat signatures followed their separate paths towards the large marble staircase at the back of the room. When the initial collapse had occurred Colby must have realized he was too far from the buildings exit so had instead doubled back and taken cover under the marble staircase as the ceiling crumbled around him. Don forced himself to look away from Hayley’s image on the screen and he watched as Megan and Ben reached the secondary staircase towards the rear of the building, where the other three agents had been trapped.

“We found them Don,” Megan announced over the radio. “We’re preparing to pull them out. Ethan has a broken leg and possible head injury, and Mark is unconscious but breathing and heart rate are steady. I’m sorry guys, Nikki didn’t make it.”

“Get them out of there Megan,” Don replied.


	4. Chapter 4

As Megan and Ben were pulling Mark and Ethan from the wreckage at the back of the bank, David and Hayley were still making their way through what remained of the lobby.

After what felt like an eternity, Hayley finally crawled around a corner and spotted the main staircase. It was as she reached the first section of the stairs that she realized she was in trouble. It was clear that there had been another smaller collapse since the last scan that she had seen, as the path she had memorized was blocked by more debris. There way for a radio signal to make it out of the rubble and without any way to communicate with Charlie she had no way of finding a new path to where Colby was trapped. She cursed loudly in frustration and was shocked when a voice replied from out of the darkness.

“Hayley?” the voice mumbled from somewhere to the left of her amongst the rubble.

“Colby?” Hayley yelled in reply, “Colby, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, I can here you,” Colby shouted in reply. “Be careful, I tried to move a beam before and the whole place almost fell down on me.”

“Ok,” Hayley replied, happy to have found him alive and conscious. “Are you ok? I’ve reached a dead end and I can’t get through to you, but David took a different path round the other way. He should get to you soon.”

“I think I’m ok,” Colby yelled back, “I hit my head and was out of it for a while but I feel alright now. My arm’s pretty messed up but it feels… wait a minute, I think I hear something. David? Is that you man?”

“Sure is. Should be through to you in a minute,” David announced as he crawled the last meters towards his partner.

~***~

“Nice of you to drop by,” Colby joked when David finally crawled into view.

“Good to see you buddy,” David smiled, “but I’ve got to say, why the hell didn’t you just crawl out through here?”

Colby glanced over towards the gab in the debris, through which David and had just crawled, and sighed.

“I’m just a little stuck,” Colby admitting, keeping his voice low in an effort to keep Hayley from hearing the extent of his injuries.

David followed Colby’s gaze and saw a large piece of rebar sticking out of the bicep of Colby’s left arm and pinning him in place. David could also see a large gash open and bleeding across his friends’ forehead.

“What’s going on over there guys?” Hayley’s voice called from the darkness, “I can’t get through. Talk to me?”

“He’s ok!” David yelled out, sharing a silent, knowing look with Colby.

“Just rip it out, David,” Colby whispered.

“I don’t have any pain killers man, just a basic first aid kit,” David apologized quietly.

“It’s fine man, I can take it. Just do it quick.”

David nodded silently and pulled off one of Colby’s gloves before stuffing it into his friends’ mouth to act as a gag. He crawled over until he was kneeling over Colby and braced himself as he placed both hands on the end of the rebar.

“You sure you’re ready?” he asked nervously.

Colby nodded and without waiting another moment, David pulled with every ounce of strength he could gather.

 

Colby screamed as the steel slowly slid out of the arm, the sound only barely muffled by the makeshift gag. Colby breathed heavily when the rebar finally left his body and David worked quickly to patch the wound and staunch the bleeding.

“What the hell is happening in there?” Hayley screamed. “God dammit guys, talk to me!”

“All good babe,” Colby yelled, “Let’s just get out of here and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“That’s a bullshit answer Colby!” Hayley replied.

David chuckled at the couples’ conversation and finished bandaging Colby’s arm

“Alright Hayley,” he yelled out, “We’re going to start moving out. You should head back the way you came and we’ll meet you at the front.”

Hayley agreed and the three agents began the long crawl back out of the crumbling building.

~***~

It took almost an hour for the agents to retrace their paths back through the debris. As she neared the entrance of the building Hayley stopped abruptly. A strap on her flak jacket was caught on exposed piece of metal amongst the wreck of concrete and steel. While she worked to free the strap David and Colby reached the outside and Colby was immediately lead to a waiting ambulance, where paramedics set about checking him over.

“Where’s Hayley?” David asked, looking around in confusion, “She should have beat us out.”

Everyone shrugged and turned back to look towards the broken structure, waiting for their final agent to emerge. As the minutes ticked by Don walked over towards the entry to peer into the empty darkness.

“Hayley?” he yelled down the small tunnel leading into the debris.

“Yep?” Hayley grunted out, still fighting with her jacket in the tight space. The walls around her were too close for her to remove the jacket and she couldn’t reach her knife from where her arms were pinned in front of her.

“What’s taking so long?” Don called out.

“My jacket’s caught on something,” Hayley explained, “Just give me a second I think I can get…”

Her words were cut off as something shifted within the rubble.

Don quickly backed away from the buildings entrance as large sections of ceiling fell and clouds of dust billowed outwards.

As the dust settled, and eerie quiet settled over the rescue teams surrounding the building. No one moved as they stared at the bank. The unnerving silence was finally broken by Don as he yelled out in panic.

“HAYLEY?”


	5. Chapter 5

Colby pushed the paramedics away as he jumped up and followed after Don, who was running towards the collapse.

He fell to his knees beside Don as the older agent dug through the concrete and metal around the area where a hand was sticking out of the rubble. They both dug through the debris until the found her, pinned down with a large steel beam across her hips.

“She’s not breathing,” Colby gasped as Don held two fingers to his daughters’ neck.

“I can’t find a pulse,” Don added, “Starting CPR. Come on Hayley.”

Colby sat in silence, staring at his wife’s face as Don performed compressions and counted aloud. As he reached 30, Colby leaned forward and blew two breathes into Hayley’s lungs, after which Don continued the force her heart to beat. Long minutes ticked by as the two men worked furiously to bring her back and just as Colby began to lose hope, Hayley gasped and her eyelids flickered.

“Hayles?” Don asked, “Hang in there sweetheart. We’re going to get you out of here.”

He quickly kissed her forehead before standing and running off to organize the rescue teams to help dig his daughter out.

“Colby?” Hayley whimpered in pain. “Colby, what happened?”

“There was another collapse and you’re pinned under a beam, but don’t worry. We’ll have you out soon,” Colby promised.

~***~

Almost 4 hours after the last collapse, Colby found himself sitting on the ground next to Hayley as he held her hand and they continued to wait. There were meters upon meters of wreckage piled on top of her and the rescue crews were methodically removing it piece by piece. It was a slow process but Colby was grateful that they could at least see the sky. He didn’t know if he could have spent another minute trapped in the dark and had breathed a sigh of relief when the area above had been cleared and the afternoon sun beamed down on the couple.

They were quiet as the rescue teams worked. Hayley had stopped talking over an hour ago, complaining of a tightness in her chest that made her breathing labored, but she found comfort in having her husband by her side.

Their quiet was shattered as Colby’s phone began to ring, shocking both of them out of their thoughts.

“Granger,” Colby answered, “Alexis?”

Hayley shared a panicked glance with him upon hearing their daughter’s name and Colby squeezed her hand supportively. He spoke briefly with his eldest as he fought to remain calm until she asked to speak to her mother.

“Hang on Lex, I’ll go see if I can find her,” he said as he covered his phone with his hand. “She’s asking to talk to you,” he explained, “but I’ll tell her you’re in an interrogation or something.”

“No it’s ok,” Hayley wheezed, “I want to talk to her.”

“Hey sweets,” Colby said into the phone, “Yeah, she’s right here.”

Hayley coughed before taking the phone and winced slightly, causing Colby to shoot her a concerned look.

“Hey baby girl,” she greeted, “What’s up?”

“Not much,” Alexis replied, “I just haven’t seen you since breakfast yesterday and grandpa Alan said we couldn’t go into the office to see you. He’s acting weirder than usual. Is everything ok?”

“Everything’s fine honey,” Hayley lied, “How was school?”

“School was good. If everything’s fine, then why does your voice sound funny?” Alexis questioned and Hayley cursed her daughters’ intelligence.

“I’m ok. I just got a bit knocked around during this case,” she replied, “nothing to worry about. Is your brother around?”

“Yeah he’s right here. Hang on I’ll put you on speaker.”

 

Hayley stayed on the phone for the next 20 minutes talking idly with her kids about their day at school and Liam’s upcoming baseball game the following weekend.

“Sorry mum, Grandpa Alan said we’ve got to go. Liam has to get to practice,” Lexi said after a while. “Will you and dad be home tonight?”

“Probably not before you go to bed,” Hayley replied, “Sorry sweetheart. Hey before you go, you know that I love you guys so much, don’t you?”

“Love you too mummy,” Liam replied happily, but his sister was far more curious when she replied.

“Love you too mum, are you sure nothing’s wrong?”

“Everything’s fine. I just miss you guys,” Hayley promised, “I’ll see you guys soon.”

She handed the phone back to Colby silently and tears began to form in her eyes before slowly rolling down her cheeks.

“Hey,” Colby soothed, wiping the tears away with the pad of his thumb, “You will see them soon. You’ll be out of here soon.”

Just as he finished speaking, a member of the excavation team approached and informed them they were about to move one of the larger beams positioned above them. Colby was told he need to move back and he reluctantly went to stand with David, a safe distance away.

“How’s she doing?” David asked as his partner joined him.

“It’s starting to get to her,” Colby admitted sadly, “the kids just called. We didn’t want to scare them so Hayley didn’t tell them the truth. It was a hard call.”

David placed a hand on Colby’s shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze.

“Hang in there man, they’ll have her out soon,” David reassured.

“Yeah. Where’s the rest of the team?” Colby asked, looking around the area where they had set up command.

“Mark and Ethan are still at the hospital, and Ben and Megan went to talk to Nicki’s family,” David said sadly.

Colby nodded in reply as he watched the agents crawling across the ruined building in front of them. They had a crane slowly lifting a large beam that would put them one step closer to freeing his wife from the rubble. It happened suddenly, one minute the beam was rising slowly into the air and the next, it slipped from its chains and fell back towards the debris. As it landed, large fragments of the bank tumbled towards Hayley kicking up another cloud of dust in their wake.

Once again Colby found himself running back into the crumbling building, fear gripping his heart as he searched through the thick, dusty air.

Hayley was buried up to her neck with only her head and one of her hands visible through the wreckage. Colby let out a strangled sob as he fell to the ground beside her again, taking her hand in his. His other hand landed gently on her cheek, palm cupping her jaw as she opened her eyes and looked straight into his. Her eyes were full of fear and she gasped for breath as they stared at each other.

Hayley felt the edges of her vision begin to blur and she stared into Colby’s eyes. She struggled to take a breath before speaking, the bulk of the debris above her weighing heavier on her chest as the minutes ticked by.

“Promise…” she choked, “Promise you’ll keep it together for the kids.”

“Don’t,” Colby begged, squeezing her hand as he waited desperately for the recovery team to move the rubble pinning Hayley in place. “Please don’t say things like that,” he continued to beg as tears slid down his dust-caked face.

“Don’t fall apart on them. I love you,” Hayley whispered, “Just… Kiss me… Please.”

Colby did just that, leaning forward to kiss his wife. It was gentle and emotional and he only pulled away when she started to cough and blood began to run from the corner of her mouth.

“I love you,” he told her, “Do you hear me, Hayley? I love you, ok? Don’t you dare leave me. Please, Hayles I can’t do this without you.”

She smiled peacefully as the coughing stopped and Colby screamed as her hand slipped from his. Her eyes dulled and glazed over while her chest ceased to rise and fall. He screamed again and kicked out violently at a nearby beam in the wreckage around him.

David had to drag him from the building before he brought what remained of the ceiling crashing down on all of them. As he was pulled away he kept his eyes pinned on the still body of his wife as she lay there, left amongst the rubble.

Meanwhile, the sound of the last collapse had sent Don running from his command post and he arrived by the building’s gaping entrance just in time to hear Colby’s heart wrenching screams. The moment he saw Colby and David emerge, he knew she was gone. He fell to his knees, shaking his head. He was unable to accept what he knew was true, unable to accept that his only child was gone and his grandchildren were now left motherless.


	6. Chapter 6

Another team was brought in to take over the case and investigate the explosion. With two agents dead, both Violent Crimes teams had been put on leave and ordered to go home. Both Colby and Don remained at the scene well into the night and only left once Hayley’s body had been recovered from amongst the rubble. They both accompanied the body to the morgue, where Robin met them and drove them back to the craftsman house, where Colby and Hayley had been living with Alan, Charlie and Amita, for the last few years since Hayley had become a full-fledged agent.

Colby was grateful for the late hour as it meant the kids were safely tucked up in bed, allowing him a few more hours before he would have to tell them the horrific news. He quietly opened the doors to their rooms to check on them before returning to the living room and collapsing onto the couch. He was joined by Don, who handed him a large glass of Scotch and then Allan, Charlie, Amita and Robin all joined them in the small family room. Nobody spoke for close to an hour as they absorbed the news.

Eventually Charlie and Amita went off to their room and not much later Robin fell asleep in her chair and Alan retired his own bed. Neither Colby nor Don moved until just before dawn when Colby stood abruptly and stormed out the back door.

He sat down beside the koi pond and stared at the fish as they slowly swam through the water. He tried to think of what he would tell his children when they woke in a few hours’ time and felt the loss of Hayley weighing down his shoulders. He knew there was nothing he could say to them, that would make the news easier to take, just as no one had been able to say the right thing when his father had died. The only difference was that he had been a teenager when his dad had passed away, while his own kids were too young to have to experience this much pain.

~***~

Alexis was the first to wake. She looked at the clock and was confused as to why no one had woken her for school. As she sat up in bed she noticed her father asleep in the over-stuffed arm chair in the corner of her room and grew even more confused. At some point during the night he must have snuck in and fallen asleep without waking her.

“Daddy?” she asked sleepily, waking the man from his sleep, “Why are you asleep in my room?”

“Lexi,” Colby sighed, “You’re awake.”

He slowly stood and walked over to his daughters bed and sitting down on the edge of it. She quickly crawled onto his lap and curled up against his chest.

“I missed you and mummy while you were at work,” she admitted in the quiet morning air.

“I missed you too princess,” he replied, hugging her tightly as he worked up the courage to tell her the truth.

Before he could explain the events of the previous day, Liam entered the room and joined them on the bed.

“Morning,” he greeted, “We’re late for school.”

“You’re not going to school today guys,” Colby replied.

Both children directed questioning looks at their father as he prepared himself to deliver the horrible news.

“Daddy what’s going on?” Lexi asked nervously, “Is this about why everyone was acting weird yesterday?”

“Yeah, Lex it is,” Colby sighed, “I’m sorry baby but we didn’t tell you everything yesterday. The thing is, the day before yesterday we got a call that someone tripped the alarm at the Federal Reserve Bank and when we responded there were explosives planted throughout the building.”

Both kids looked captivated by Colby’s story, having grown up on tales of FBI cases and having no idea that this case had ended any differently to all the other cases they had heard about.

“And then what happened Daddy?” Liam asked excitedly.

“The bombs went off while we were inside and I got stuck inside and so did Ethan, Mark and Nikki, and I’m really sorry guys but Aunt Nikki passed away,” Colby explained.

“Are you ok Dad?” Lexi asked quietly, “She was your friend for a long time.”

“Thanks honey,” Colby replied, sensing his moment to prepare the kids for processing their grief. “I’m really sad that Aunty Nikki is gone, but I’m just trying really hard to remember all the fun we had together and how important she was to me, you know?”

“Does that help you not be as sad?” Liam asked quietly.

“Yeah buddy it does,” Colby said, hugging both kids tightly. “But anyway, Megan and Ben went in and rescued Ethan and Mark and they’re a little sore but they’re going to be fine.”

“What about you, dad?” Liam interrupted, “Who rescued you?”

“Mummy and Uncle David saved me,” Colby smiled. “but I have some more really sad news guys. When they were rescuing me some more of the building collapsed and mum got stuck. I’m so sorry guys, I don’t how to tell you this but the rescue team weren’t able to pull mum out. She passed away, but I was with her the whole time and the last thing she told me was that she loves you, and that she will always be your mum. I know that there’s nothing I can say to make this hurt less but I love you guys so much and I’m not going anywhere, ok? You still have me and I’m here, no matter what you need.”

Colby held his breath as he waited for his kids to react. The both sat still, thinking over his words and fighting to process what they meant. Liam was the first to react, turning his small face to look up at his father, tears beginning to stream down his face.

“She’s going to be buried in the ground like me first mum, isn’t she?” he asked quietly.

Colby pulled his son closer against him as he spoke.

“Yeah buddy she is,” he agreed quietly.

“It’s not fair,” Alexis sobbed, burying her face into Colby’s side. He quickly shifted the kids around so that he was lying down on the bed, with both Lexi and Liam piled on top of them and simply held them as the cried. Their sobs were the only sounds in the house as the other occupants slowly woke.

 

The three of them were still piled together of Lexi’s bed when Don crept down the hallway to check on them hours later.

“Hey guys,” he murmured quietly as he entered the room. “Do you want anything to eat? Grandpa Alan thought you might be hungry so he made you some lunch.”

“Thanks Don,” Colby mumbled in reply as he sat up on the bed and together they all walked slowly down the hall towards the kitchen.

No body spoke as they sat down at the large kitchen table. Charlie, Amita, Robin and Alan were already seated and they watched, with matching expressions of worry, as the three Granger’s joined them.

After close to an hour of pushing her food around her plate with a fork, Alexis broke the silence.

“Daddy?” she asked quietly, “Can I go to my room please? I want to be alone for a bit.”

“Of course baby girl,” Colby answered, “I’ll come check on you later ok? I love you.”

“I love you too,” Lexi replied as she rose from her seat and made her way back to her room where she crawled into bed, closing her and wishing that when she opened her eyes again she would find that it was all a bad dream.

Not long after his sister left the room, Liam also asked to leave the table a quickly retreated to his room. Once both kids were out of the room, Colby slumped in his seat, head in his hands, as the exhaustion caught up with him.

Alan placed a comforting hand on Colby’s shoulder and in response to the small gesture, the younger mans’ strength left him and he broke down crying. He quickly excused himself from the room and retreated to the bedroom he had shared with Hayley. The last time he’d been in there had been the night before last when Hayley and he had got dressed for dinner with David and Jenny. It seemed like years had passed since that night, but he couldn’t help the small smile that ghosted over his lips when he took in the dresses strewn across the room for where Hayley had thrown them as she had searched for the perfect outfit. As he lay down on the bed, Colby caught the scent of smell that was entirely Hayley and felt his heart clench as he realized that it would only be a matter of time before that smell disappeared. He curled up on Hayley’s side of the bed with her pillow clutched tightly to his chest and he must have fallen asleep for when his eyes opened again Liam and Alexis where curled up against him in the bed and the covers were drawn over the three of them.

They slept like that in the large bed together for the next 3 nights until Hayley’s funeral.


	7. Chapter 7

Colby sat straight backed with his children on either side of him as hundreds of agents from the bureau and academics from CalSci, and all around the country, filed slowly into the large hall and filled the seats behind them. Alexis and Liam gripped tightly to his arms as the three of them stared ahead to where the casket sat, the US flag draped across it and flowers surrounding it. A large photo of Hayley sat on an easel beside the casket, her blonde curls dancing in a slight breeze, while her dazzling smile set her face aglow. Colby swallowed against the lump in his throat as he looked at the image, fighting back the tears he could feel building behind his eyes.

Colby was vaguely aware of Don sitting on the other side of Alexis and beside him sat the rest of the Eppes family, meanwhile behind them, Colby knew, were David and the rest of the team as well as Larry and Milly.

He found himself unable to focus as the service began, instead staring unblinkingly at the casket in front of him and listening intently to the hitching breathes of his children beside him. Eventually the time came for him to give the eulogy, and as he stood to walk up to the microphone at the front of the room, both Lexi and Liam continued to grip his arms as they walked forward. So it was that the three of them stood in front of the large crowd amassed to say their final farewell to Hayley. Colby picked Liam up in his arms and held him close as one of his hands clung tightly to Alexis’ small, trembling hand.

“Special Agent Hayley Granger,” Colby began, “was the most remarkable person I’ve ever known. She was brave and selfless, intelligent and beautiful. She was a widely published and highly regarded mathematician and in recent years she had become an incredible agent. But to us, she was simply mum,” Colby paused briefly as Liam began to sob harder, planting a kiss on his forehead to calm him and squeezing Lexi’s hand before continuing.

“I’m not known for being great with words, that was always Hayley’s thing, not mine, so I would like to read a few poems that I think put into words how the three of us feel right now. The first is by James Whitcomb Riley:

_I cannot say and I will not say_

_That she is dead, she is just away._

_With a cheery smile and wave of hand_

_She has wandered into an unknown land;_

_And left us dreaming how very fair_

_Its needs must be, since she lingers there._

_And you – oh you, who the wildest yearn_

_From the old-time step and the glad return –_

_Think of her faring on, as dear_

_In the love of there, as the love of here_

_Think of her still the same way, I say;_

_She is not dead, she is just away._

Liam would like to read the next one by an anonymous author.”

Colby held his son closer to the microphone as the small boy wiped his eyes and pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket.

“This is for my mummy,” he began.

“ _I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one._

_I’d like to leave and afterglow of smiles when life is done._

_I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways,_

_Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days._

_I’d like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun:_

_Of happy memories that I leave when life is done._ ”

 

Colby gently placed Liam on his feet and lifted Alexis up to take her turn.

“This poem is called A Daughter’s Promise,” Alexis announced nervously, “and I wrote it for my mum.

_Every time that I smile,_

_Every time that I sigh,_

_I think of your face,_

_And a tear escapes my eye._

_You were my world,_

_My inspiration and my heart,_

_But when you left me,_

_I thought I would fall apart._

_You were my best friend,_

_My one true confidante,_

_And that’s not all you were,_

_You were also my mum._

_I didn’t want to live without you,_

_But you would have wanted me to,_

_And if there’s anyone I want to make happy,_

_That anyone is you._

_I would have given anything to have back,_

_But I know now that it is meant to be,_

_For you are still watching from up there,_

_And I know you’re watching me._

_I’ll make you mum,_

_I’m going to fulfill your wish,_

_You’re going to see me and smile,_

_That’s a daughter’s promise._

I love you mummy.”

As she finished speaking Alexis began to cry and Colby held her tight as his own eyes began to cloud in response to his daughter’s poem.

“Hayley you will forever be in our heart,” he said quietly into the microphone, “and we shall never forget how much we love you.”

The three Grangers made their way back to their seats and Colby ignored the rest of the service as he tried to comfort both of his children. Eventually the service came to an end and the pole bearers were called forward.

Colby placed a quick kiss on Lexi’s forehead and then Liam’s before walking towards the casket. Alan moved to take his place beside the children and hold them close as Don, Charlie, David, Ben and Mark made their way up from their seats to join Colby beside the casket. Ethan watched on from his seat beside Megan, with his leg in a cast, as the rest of the male members of their team lifted Hayley’s casket onto their shoulders and began the slow procession up the isle towards the front doors that would lead out to the waiting hearse.

As they made their slow march up the isle between the seats, Alan and the kids fell into step behind them and then they were joined by Amita and Robin and the Larry, Megan and Ethan.

By the time the casket reached the hearse there was not a dry eye among the group and a 21-gun salute rang out as the doors of the hearse closed, their resounding booms causing the children to flinch and Colby once again pulled them to him as they cried.


	8. SEVEN MONTHS LATERS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly rewritten chapter 8

“Hi there doc,” Colby greeted as he took a seat on the couch in Dr Bradford’s office.

“Hello Colby, it’s good to see you again. I’ve been worried about you these last few months,” Bradford replied warmly, looking across the room to where the younger man had slumped on the couch across from him.

“Thanks,” Colby said, attempting to smile but ending up with something closer to a grimace, “So management said I needed to get cleared by you before I can come back to work.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Bradford agreed, “I need to assess whether you’ve had enough time to emotionally process what happened and decide whether you are safe to have your gun back.”

“Ok, so what do you need from me to clear me, because I want to get back to work,” Colby replied simply.

“Do you feel ready for that?” Bradford asked.

Colby shrugged and remained silent as he thought.

“Don went back more than two months ago,” he replied, as if that in anyway answered the doctors question.

“Grief isn’t a competition Colby,” Bradford reminded, abandoning his notebook so he could focus completely on his patient.

“I know,” Colby replied, “I just meant that I have to go back sometime and Don lost her too. We all did so I don’t see why I’m the only one who can’t get back on the team.”

“No one said you couldn’t Colby,” Dr Bradford replied, “I just want to be sure that you’re ready before I clear you. And yes, Don lost his daughter and he took the time he needed and when I felt that he was ready, I cleared him to go back to work and I will clear you too when you’re ready. But the thing is Colby, Don is only grieving for one person, while you’re grieving for three. You’ve had to shoulder your own loss while attempting to remain strong for you children and that has to take an unimaginable toll on a person.”

Colby nodded as Bradford spoke. It was true that the months since Hayley’s death had been incredibly difficult and he had struggled to help his kids through it all without falling apart himself.

“Why don’t you tell me about how the kids are going?” Dr Bradford suggested.

“I’m not really sure,” Colby sighed, “Not really. Liam is so much like Hayles and he’s wearing his heart on his sleeve right now, just like she used to. For the first four months he was crying a lot and it’s only in in the last two months that he’s started allowing Lexi or I out of his sight without having panic attacks. It’s clear that he’s terrified of losing anyone else. It took him a long time to come back from his birth mother’s death and it’s just cruel for Hayley to be taken from him as well. Lex and I are all he’s got left and he’s holding onto us with everything he’s got.”

“So how do you think he will manage with you going back to work?” Bradford asked quietly when Colby paused.

“He’s going to struggle,” Colby admitted, “I know he will but at some point we all have to get back to our lives. He’ll be ok, but the longer I stay home with them, the harder it’s going to be for them to be separated from me, right?”

“Perhaps,” Bradford nodded, “honestly, it wouldn’t hurt to bring them in for a chat and see how they’re doing.”

“Yeah, I think that would be good for them,” Colby agreed. “The thing is, as emotional as Liam is, I’m not all that worried about him, he’s a really smart kid. He had to grow up really fast over the last few years and at least I know he’s dealing with it in some way. It’s Alexis that has me concerned. She hasn’t cried since the funeral, at least not in front of anyone and she won’t talk to me. She’s just being really quiet and it’s scaring me to be honest. She used to be such a happy, energetic, vibrant kid and now she just keeps to herself or hangs out with Liam and the spark’s gone out of her. I’ve tried talking to her, and so have Alan and Don. Even Charlie tried in his own crazy way.”

“How do you think their reactions to what happened are affecting you, Colby?” Bradford asked after a moment of silence.

“I feel like I’m failing them,” Colby admitted, rubbing a hand over his face as he felt his eyes begin to grow hot. “I’m their dad. I’m all they have left and it’s my job to get them through this. Only I have no idea what I’m doing. Hayley was always so good at talking to them and I have no idea what to say.”

Colby was grateful when Bradford didn’t say anything and instead just let him cry. It was nice to just finally tell someone all of this without worrying that they’d think he was weak. Usually it would be Hayley that he would open up to like this but without her he felt lost. After so many years as a team it was crippling to be on his own, and in that moment he was certain that he would never feel whole again.

Only when Colby had pulled himself together and his breathing had evened out, did Bradford speak.

“You know, Hayley’s been having sessions with me for 11 years now,” he began quietly, “Ever since the two of you got married she’s been coming in here and I know I’m not supposed to talk about anything that Hayley ever told me but I think she’d want you to know this Colby. In all those years not once did she ever leave without at least mentioning you. She’d come in with photos of you and the kids or some funny story. You three were everything to her and you should know that she was happy Colby. I mean truly happy, in a way no other patient I’ve had, has ever been. She started seeing me after the kidnapping and for years there were always issues for us to talk about but for the last few years our sessions were more like friends having coffee and catching up. She’d walk in here every month with a smile and give me updates on everyone.”

Bradford paused in his story, looking closely at Colby to make sure the younger man understood what he was trying to say.

“I asked her last year why she still came to see me if there weren’t any problems in her life and do you want to know what she said?” he asked, “She told me that she didn’t put her bulletproof vest on after she got shot, she put it on before to prevent getting hurt and that’s why she came to see me every month even though she was happy. She wanted to stay that way. She was a remarkable woman Colby.”

Colby didn’t speak and instead sat quietly thinking about all that he had lost.

“What do I do now?” he asked quietly.

“You go home, you hug your kids and you tell them that you’re hurting too. Then you tell them about your favourite memories of her, let them tell you theirs and don’t be afraid to cry in front of them. Maybe all Lexi needs is to see that you’re all feeling the same pain and know that she has you to lean on,” Bradford replied calmly, “I’m not going to clear you for returning to the team Colby and it’s not because I don’t think you’re ready, because I believe you are.”

“Then why?” Colby asked in confusion.

“I don’t feel that Alexis and Liam are ready and I’d like to have sessions with each of them to make sure that they won’t be hurt any further by the knowledge of you being back in harms away. They realize what your job really is now and they understand the consequences more than most law enforcement kids, so I need to check with them first.”

“Ok,” Colby agreed, “Whatever it takes to help them. They’re all that matters.”


	9. Chapter 9

Neither Liam nor Colby spoke as they sat in Dr Bradford’s waiting room. After a few minutes an agent in his early 20’s walked out of Bradford’s office and quickly headed towards the buildings exit. A few moments later the receptionist, sitting behind her desk, motioned for the two Granger’s to enter the office.

“Hello,” Bradford greeted warmly, “you must be Liam. I’ve heard all about you.”

“Hi,” Liam replied nervously, sitting down on the couch after giving Colby a brief hug. Once he was sitting on the couch, Colby turned and walked back out to the waiting room.

“Do you know why I asked your dad to bring you in to talk to me today?” Bradford began.

“He said you wanted to talk to me about mum because you won’t let him go back to work unless me and Lexi are ok,” Liam answered.

“That’s right,” Bradford nodded, “So is there any of that, that you want to talk about?”

Liam remained quiet for long minutes before he began to speak.

“I think you should let him go back to work,” Liam slowly admitted.

“Why is that?” Bradford asked gently.

“Because he’s sad,” Liam replied calmly. “I think he’s bored at home and that leaves too much time for him to think about mum and it makes him sad. If he went back to work he’d be really busy so, he wouldn’t have so much spare time to miss her. But I’m really scared about him going back too.”

“What makes you scared Liam?” Bradford questioned.

“That he might die too,” Liam sighed, “I already lost two mums and I don’t want to lose anyone else. Before mum… before everything happened I never really thought about how dangerous it was in the FBI but now I do.”

“But you still think I should let him go back?”

“Yeah,” Liam sobbed, wiping tears from his eyes before continuing. “Mum loved her job and so does dad so I think she would be sad if she knew he couldn’t be an agent anymore. Besides, Uncle David promised that he would look after dad.”

“That’s very grown up of you Liam,” Bradford acknowledged, “Do you want to talk about your mum?”

“Not really,” Liam replied, “I miss her a lot and I cry about her heaps because it still really hurts.”

“I’m sure it does,” the doctor agreed, “I hear your going back to school soon. Do you feel ready for that?”

“I want to be busy too. I don’t want to sit around thinking about how sad I am all that time.”

They spoke for close to an hour, sharing stories Bradford had about Liam’s family, both those related to him and those who were part of his FBI family. Throughout the course of the hour Bradford managed to get the 8-year-old to open up about his mother and felt confident in how the young boys was coping with the tragedies that had befallen him.

“Well Liam,” Bradford smiled at the end of their session, “I must say that I think you are going to be just fine and I think your mum would be really proud of how well you are handling all of this. If you ever do want to talk about it some more with someone who isn’t family, you can always come see me ok?”

“Ok,” Liam nodded, “thank you.”

“You’re welcome, would you mind waiting outside for a minute while I have a chat with your dad?” Bradford asked.

Liam nodded and once he left the room, Colby entered the room and sat in the spot his son had recently vacated.

“Well you were right,” he admitted, “he’s definitely dealing with it well. I wouldn’t be worried about the crying at all because based on everything that he just told me he’s processing this all in a really healthy way.”

Colby breathed a sigh of relief and a rare smile graced his lips before he spoke.

“Really?” Colby asked, “God that’s such a relief.”

Dr Bradford nodded knowingly.

“He’s going to be just fine,” he said, “and he said he wants to go back to school and he wants you to return to work because right now you both have too much spare time to think about being sad and I have to agree with him.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s right,” Colby agreed, “he’s way too smart for his own good.”

“He is a very bright kid, you and Hayley have done a great job with him these last few years,” Bradford comforted, “But anyway I should let you go and I’ll see you tomorrow for Alexis’ session.”

“See you tomorrow doc,” Colby said as he walked out the door to where Liam was waiting patiently.


	10. Chapter 10

The following day found Alexis sitting on Bradford’s couch as, once again, Colby waited outside the office.

In the 20 minutes that had passed since Alexis had entered the room, the young girl had yet to say anything beyond a simple greeting.

“I understand that it must be hard to talk about your mum,” Bradford offered, “I knew her since before you were born, so I know how close the two of you were. Did you know she used to come and talk to me every month?”

Alexis nodded but remained mute and, with arms crossed, she continued to stare out the window to her right.

“She said it really helped her to talk about what she was thinking and feeling and she knew that I would always listen to her and try to help if I could. I just want to help you Alexis,” Bradford admitted.

“What I’m feeling is hurt,” Lexi mumbled.

“and that’s completely natural,” Bradford replied, “it’s going to take you a while but eventually it won’t hurt as much anymore, ok? You’ll always miss her but after enough time has passed it won’t hurt so much to remember her.”

“And I’m mad,” Alexis continued, voice rising with emotion, “I’m mad at everyone for going back to their jobs like nothing happened and they want Liam and me to go back to school. It’s not fair!”

“What makes you think that everyone going make to their lives means that they’re not steal hurting?” Bradford enquired.

“If they really loved her as much as they say then they wouldn’t be able to sleep or eat, and they definitely wouldn’t be able to work!” Alexis explained, emotionally.

“Just because they’re trying to get their lives back on track doesn’t mean they don’t still love your mum. She wouldn’t want you all to give up. I’m sure she’d want you to try to be happy again,” Bradford replied. “You said before that everyone wants you to go back to school. Do you want that?”

“I don’t know,” Lexi sighed, eyes tearing up.

Silence filled the room, as Alexis refused to elaborate.

“Okay,” Bradford continued, “in that case you said that no one should be able to eat or sleep, let alone return to work. Are you eating and sleeping?”

“No,” Lexi sobbed, “I want to, but everything I eat makes me sick and I’m so tired all the time but I can’t sleep without thinking about it. I’m just really angry at them!”

“At the people who blew up the bank?” Bradford asked curiously.

“No!” Lexi yelled, becoming more and more upset as t=she spoke. “I’m mad at mum and dad. They lied to me!”

“When did they lie, Lexi?”

“The day she…” Lexi cried, “The day she died, I called dad and I talked to both of them and they pretended nothing was wrong but she was trapped the whole time and they didn’t tell me. I could have said goodbye but instead she let me and Liam tell her about our day at school. They had no right to take that chance away from us!”

Bradford didn’t respond as Alexis sobbed. Instead he rose from his seat and crossed the room to open the door out to the waiting room. He waved Colby in and the two men returned to the room as the young girl continued to cry. Colby quickly joined Lexi on the couch and pulled her into his lap and held her as she cried.

Lexi pushed herself away from Colby and scrambled off his lap to sit at the other end of the couch. Colby stared at her with pain and confusion in his eyes.

“Lexi?” Bradford asked as her tears began to recede. “Can you tell your dad what you just told me?”

“I hate you,” Lexi admitted, looking at her hands where she was twisting them in her lap, “and mum.”

“Why?” Colby choked out emotionally.

“Because you didn’t let me say goodbye!” Alexis yelled. “You both knew when I called and you lied to me! We waisted the last minutes we had with her, talking about school and I didn’t tell her that I love her!”

“Oh Lex,” Colby replied quietly, “She knew baby. She knew how much you loved her. Maybe you’re right and it was wrong of us to lie to you, but neither of us, for even a minute, thought that she wouldn’t make it out. We didn’t want to worry you guys. It’s my job as your dad to try and protect you and I know I haven’t done a very good job of that, but I’m trying here Alexis. I’m trying.”

“I don’t care that you’re trying!” Alexis screamed. “It doesn’t fix anything!”

“I’m sorry Lexi. I’m sorry. I love you,” Colby said, pulling his daughter close to him in a tight embrace.


	11. Chapter 11

Colby took a deep breath as he stepped out of the lift and into the bullpen for the first time in 8 months.

“Welcome back Colby,” Megan greeted as Colby walked into the teams’ area.

“Hey,” Colby greeted distractedly, eyes falling on the photo frames he had sitting on his desk. He quickly leaned forward and knocked over one of the two frames, so that it lay flat on the desktop. Megan watched with concern as Colby gently pushed it over and she caught a glimpse of Hayley’s smiling face in a white wedding gown. After knocking over the photo he began pulling down the various photos stuck on the low walls of his cubical. He pulled down every photo containing Hayley and gently placed them in the top draw of his desk, leaving only the photos of the kids and the rest of the Eppes family hanging in front of him. Megan clapped a hand on his shoulder comfortingly before walking away and leaving Colby to slump in his chair.

~***~

Half an hour later, David sat down in the desk that backed onto Colby’s.

“Hey man, good to have you back,” David greeted. “How you doing?”

“It’s harder than I thought it would be,” Colby admitted, not even looking at David as he stared at Hayley’s empty and abandoned desk across the walkway from the two men. “I keep waiting for her to walk through those elevator doors and sit on the edge of my desk like she always would. I don’t even know why it bothers me that her desk is empty now because she barely used it anyway. She was always pulling her chair over here to crowd in on me.”

David nodded, with a small smile on his lips as the two agents remembered their fallen team mate.

“She really never did use that desk did she?” he laughed.

“Except to hang up all her photos and the kids’ artwork,” Colby added, “Speaking of, what happened to all of that?”

“We boxed it up months ago and Don said he drop it round to you,” David explained, “I’m guessing he didn’t.”

“I’m sure he just didn’t want to upset the kids,” Colby replied, “I’ll ask him about it later.”

The pair fell quiet as David started on the file of paperwork sitting on his desk and Colby continued to stare at Hayley’s empty desk.

“So how’ve things been while I was gone?” Colby asked awkwardly, “Anything interesting?”

“Ah, you know,” David sighed, “Just the same old cases, people stealing, killing, lying. We’ve all been working as one team while we waited for everyone to come back from their leave. The department approved a new agent to replace the girls, they start tomorrow and we can finally get back to working separate teams once they’re up to speed.”

“Only one replacement?” Colby asked, visibly flinching at the word ‘replacement’.

“Yeah,” David replied gently, “I mean we already had two full teams when Hayley got her badge so we technically only need one new agent for Don’s team, to bring us back up to two teams of four.”

“Charlie said he’s back as a full time consultant,” Colby added.

David nodded and once again the two mean fell back into silence as slowly the other agents arrived in the bullpen and joined them at their respective desks.

~***~

The entire team were gathered around at their cubicles when Don’s phone rang.

“Eppes,” the lead agent answered, “Wow, Charlie, slow down. What happened? OK, on my way”

The team stared as Don holstered his weapon and pulled on his jacket.

“Shots fired at CalSci, shooter is still on the scene,” Don informed, “Let’s move out.”

The 6 other agents were already rising from their seats as Don issued the order to move and within minutes they were in the parking garage and pulling away from the office with lights and sirens blaring.


	12. Chapter 12

The normally calm college campus was in chaos when the department issue, black cars pulled up and the agents jumped out, bulletproof vests already on and weapons drawn.

“Charlie said the shots were coming from his hallway,” Don began as they swept the area, looking for the gunman. “David, you take Colby, Ben and Mark straight towards the courtyard outside the math department. Ethan and Megan, you’re both with me. We’re going to head round the side of this building here and come in from the back.”

The agents all nodded and moved out, constantly scanning the see of fleeing students. As they rounded a corner and the courtyard came into view they got their first look at the damage the lone assailant had reeked.

Bodies lay among the grass with blood pooling around them and there, standing in the middle of them with his gun raised, was a young man. He couldn’t have been much older than 25 and he was screaming at the fearful students running from him.

“I had no choice!” he screamed. “They made me do this! I had to stop them!”

As he screamed the agents moved into position around him, each with their own weapons trained on the hysterical man.

“Don? Where are you guys?” Ben asked quietly over the radio.

“North east corner of the Courtyard,” Don replied, “I can see the shooter in the centre of the courtyard and we can hear victims inside the lecture hall directly behind us.”

“We’ve got the shooter Don, you should take the lecture hall,” David suggested.

“Copy that, David.”

David silently signalled to the three agents gathered around him and once he gave the signal they moved seamlessly into place, entering the courtyard from the north-west corner, together in a single movement to surround the shooter.

“FBI! Drop your weapon!” they yelled as David and Ben moved around to the north side of the courtyard, weapons trained on the perpetrator, while Colby and Mark moved to cover him from the west side.

“I had to do it!” the shooter continued to scream, “I had to stop them! I couldn’t let them hurt anyone else!”

“You had to stop who?” Colby asked gently, trying to get the man to lower his weapon.

“They would have done it again,” the shooter continued, ignoring Colby’s question. “I dind’t have a choice.”

“Ok,” Colby replied, slowly lowering his gun with his other hand raised, “then how about you put that gun down and we can talk about it. Nobody else has to get hurt today.”

“I can’t go to jail,” the young man announced as he pointed his weapon at Colby.

Before he could pull the trigger, his body was ripped apart as bullets flew from three different guns around the courtyard. Colby watched in slow motion as the lifeless body crumpled to the ground, coming to rest amongst his victims.

Colby breathed heavily in the silence that fell as the gunfire ceased. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and he lowly approached the body, kneeling down to feel for a pulse he knew wasn’t there.

~***~

Everything seemed to Colby, to slow down as he watched Charlie emerge from his office with Don by his side. Agents swarmed the area, and students continued to be led from the scene by paramedics.

“What the hell happened here?” Ethan wondered, startling Colby from his thoughts.

“I have no idea,” Colby mumbled.

“Sir, this is a crime scene. You can’t come in here,” Mark announced from the other side of the courtyard.

Colby and Ethan looked up, following the sound of Mark’s voice to find him arguing with a man in a suit and they quickly made their way over to the two.

“Can we help you, sir?” Colby asked politely.

“Are you the agent in charge?” the stranger asked, bluntly.

“No,” Colby replied, “but if you tell me what the problem is I’m sure we can try to help you.”

“The problem is that you guys just shot the perp of been tracking for the last four days since he shot up a high school in Washington state,” the new arrival announced, “Agent Gates, FBI.”


	13. Chapter 13

“Alright how about you start from the beginning,” Don suggested. He sitting in the conference room back at the office with Megan, Colby and Ethan. The rest of their teams were back at CalSci working their way through the crime scene, meanwhile the agents in the office were staring at the new comer, Agent Gates.

“Ok,” Gates nodded, “almost a week ago we got the call that there had been a shooting at one of the local high schools back in Washington state. We got there and the place was a blood bath, 22 dead and 31 injured. The shooter had already disappeared by the time arrived but through witness statements, we identified him as your dead shooter, Ricky Lawrence. Real loner, ex-student of the school, graduated 3 years ago and was living with his mum. We haven’t found a motive yet but we managed to track him into Oregon and then into California and then when I heard your shooting come over the radio, I knew it had to be my guy.”

As Agent Gates finished, Megan nodded.

“So our best bet is to compare the list of victims in both shootings and see if we can find something that links them to Lawrence,” she announced.

“That shouldn’t be too hard,” Colby replied, “Maybe we could use those deep current sets that we used years ago for that theft case. I’ll just get Hayley to have a look over th…” he started to say before he stopped abruptly.

“Never mind,” he mumbled, as the agents around him offered looks of varying degrees of pity.

“I’ll call Charlie,” Ethan offered.

“Who’s Charlie?” Gates asked as Ethan left the room to make the call.

“My brother,” Don explained, “He’s a mathematician and he should be able to help speed up the process of finding our connection.”

“And this Hayley?” Gates continued, “How does she fit into this?”

“She doesn’t,” Don replied bluntly.

“… She one of the two chicks from this office that got themselves killed a few months back?” Gates questioned.

Colby stood sharply and stormed out of the conference room, with Don following quickly behind him, leaving Megan standing with a stunned Agent Gates.

“That’s still a raw subject around here,” Megan offered, “We haven’t really pulled ourselves back together completely after losing Nikki and Hayley.”

“Hey, no, I get it,” Gates said, “but your short, angry friend sure seems about set to snap.”

“He’s got a lot on his plate,” Megan sighed as she watched through the glass wall as Don approached Colby.

~***~

“You ok?” Don asked as he stopped beside his son-in-law.

“God if I know,” Colby sighed, “How the hell are you keeping it together?”

“I’m a good actor,” Don admitted, “and I’ve had Robin to talk to. Who are you talking to?”

“I’m done talking about it Don. She’s the love of my life and she’s gone and I couldn’t save her,” Colby confessed. “I couldn’t save her.”

His knees buckled beneath him and he sat down heavily on the edge of his desk.

“Colby, there’s nothing any of us could have done to get her out,” Don promised, “it wasn’t your fault.”

“But she got out!” Colby yelled emotionally, causing all the agents in the bullpen to turn and stare at them. “She got out and then she went back in there for me.”

“So, what?” Don asked, “You’d rather she left you in there to die and then she was the one standing here feeling the way you feel? Is that really what you want?”

“Of course not!” Colby replied, “I just wish I could go back and change it.”

“Well you can’t,” Don spat, “no matter what either of us wish, we can’t bring her back and she would want us to move on.”

They both stared at each other in silence until Colby lowered his gaze.

“It’s late Colby,” Don finally sighed, “Go home and see the kids. We’ve got enough agents at CalSci dealing with the survivors, and there’s nothing more we can do here until Charlie gets a chance to look over the data. I’ll call you if we need you before the morning.”

Colby nodded, “Yeah, alright.”

~***~

The moment he walked through the front door of the house, Colby found his arms full of two heavily sobbing children.

“Hey,” Colby soothed, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

It was long moments before either child was able to catch their breath to answer their fathers panicked questions. Eventually it was Liam that spoke up as his sister continued to gasp for breath with her face buried in the space between Colby’s neck and shoulder.

“We saw the shooting on the news by accident,” he whispered. “And then Grandpa Allan called Uncle Charlie.”

“Hey, guys. I’m fine, ok?” Colby hushed, “I’m just fine.”

“But what if we’d lost Uncle Charlie and Aunty Amita?” Alexis sobbed. “Or you, or Grandpa Don, or Uncle David, or Aunt Megan, or Ben or Ethan or Mark? What if that guy had shot you?”

“Alexis, Liam, look at me,” Colby said gently but sternly. “We are all still right here and you are not losing anyone else. Do you hear me? I know that my job terrifies you now, but it’s only going to hurt you to let that fear control you. Do you realise how rare it is for things to go as badly as they did when we lost Mum and Nikki? I’m sure uncle Charlie will be able to tell you how small the chances are that anything like that will happen again.”

“But you got shot when I was little,” Alexis reminded him, “so bad things do happen. And when mum was teaching us to protect ourselves against kidnappers she said she was kidnapped once. Your job is dangerous,” she accused. “And you can’t promise us that you’ll come home!”

“You’re right, baby girl, I can’t promise I’ll come home,” Colby admitted sadly, “But I can promise that I’m good at my job and I can promise that I’ll be careful and that I won’t take risks. Unfortunately, that’s the best I can offer you.”

“Well I promise to try and be braver,” Liam offered quietly.

“Me too,” Lexi agreed.

“I love you guys so much,” Colby said, pulling them even closer as the three of them sat on the carpet in the entry hall of the house.

“Love you too Daddy,” they both replied together.


	14. Chapter 14

Hours later, while Colby lay in his large bed with both kids fast asleep curled up tightly against his sides, the Eppes brothers worked side-by-side in the conference room back at the office.

On one side of the room, Charlie furiously scribbled equations and formulas on large whiteboards, while on the other side, Don stared at his own set of boards. Instead of equations his were covered with victims’ photos, as well as their names, ages and various personal details. He also had entire board dedicated to everything they knew about the shooter, 21-year-old Rick Lawson.

Megan and Ethan quietly worked at a desk in the back corner of the room, pouring over files and witness statements piecing together the events of both shootings.

“Remind me again, why you’re still investigating this?” Gates asked brusquely as he entered the room. “I mean, we got the guy didn’t we? What’s left to investigate? It’s not like it matters, why he did it.”

Don bit back the urge to roll his eyes at the new agent and instead decided to simply answer him.

“We’re still investigating because this wasn’t random,” Don explained. “This was planned and we need to know why. We have no idea if Lawson had a partner, and his final words to my agents were that he ‘had to stop them’ and he ‘couldn’t let them hurt anyone else’. So that’s why we’re still investigating. We need to work who is targets were and discover what he was trying to stop.”

Gates simply huffed in response and left the room again.

“What is with that guy?” Ethan asked incredulously.

“I have no idea but if we don’t solve this soon and get him out of this office soon I might kill him myself,” Megan mumbled darkly.

~***~

Hours passed by as the agents worked tirelessly through the night. Slowly one by one they all moved their way into the conference room to work alongside each other as the sifted through the crime scene photos, statements and other evidence. Colby joined them shortly after 8 and just over an hour later they finally received the first real break in the case.

“The M.E found a hotel receipt in the shooters pocket,” Don announced with a smile as he hung up the phone. “Everyone gear up and get ready to roll out. Hopefully this guy left something behind to connect him to his targets.”

“I should go with you,” Charlie added as the agents around him prepared to leave.

“No way,” Don replied bluntly, not even turning to look at his brother as he pulled on his tactical vest and tightened the straps.

“There will be more data there that I can use to help with my analysis,” Charlie explained.

“I said NO!” Don roared, causing everyone in the room to freeze in place, staring nervously at the lead agent.

“We can leave him in the car while we clear the building and then bring him in once it’s safe,” Megan suggested quietly.

“He’s not an agent!” Don snapped, “He has no place in the field and I’ll be damned if I let another mathematician get killed because I screwed up and let them leave their chalkboard.”

The room fell silent as Don’s chest rapidly rose and fell with his heavy breathing.

“You didn’t kill her,” Colby murmured. He spoke softly but in the tense silence it sounded more like a scream. “You said it yourself yesterday that there was nothing we could have done to get her out of there. No one was to blame, Don.”

“And I meant that Colby, but she shouldn’t have been anywhere near that building in the first place. She had a doctorate, Colby. She was better than us. She was better than this and I dragged her into this world, just like I dragged Charlie into it. It’s my fault she’s dead,” Don confessed. “I gave her that badge.”

“She made that choice herself Don. She wanted that badge,” Colby replied.

“I hate to interrupt this,” Megan began hesitantly, “but we really need to move on this hotel room.”

Don nodded silently at Megan’s words before turning to David.

“David, you take point on this. Take everyone, see what’s there,” he instructed professionally. “Colby and I will stay here and sort this out.”

“Sure thing Don,” David said, “Come one team, Let’s move.”

The room quickly emptied and Charlie excused himself to go get coffee in the break room, leaving Colby and Don alone to deal with the giant metaphorical elephant.

“She only wanted to be an agent after I put the idea in her head,” Don sighed, “After Alison’s murder and the trial, she was done. She wanted to start teaching so that the kids would have some stability, and then out of nowhere we were talking about her becoming a special agent.”

“I know,” Colby replied, equally quite in the large, empty room. “After the Chinese thing we never kept any secrets, not even the small stuff. We talked about that for weeks before she decided. We knew it would be hard on the kids but it was in her blood, Don. You know that. I’ve never seen someone happier than she was on that first warrant raid.”

Both men smiled softly at the memory of Hayley’s first case in the field.

“She really did love the job didn’t she?” Don whispered.

“She had her dream job,” Colby explained, “She got to do math every day and then get the adrenaline rush of kicking in doors and chasing down suspects. But I know what she loved most was that she got work alongside her dad as an equal.”

Don looked up to stare at Colby.

“The two of you were always a team. She told me the best thing about the job was getting to be on your team and have you value her.”

“Thanks Colby,” Don replied with a smile, small though it was it was genuine. “You seem to have made a drastic change since yesterday.”

“Yeah,” Colby shrugged, “I had a chat with the kids and they seem to be processing things better and then I guess I just told you all the things I needed someone to tell me. Hayley loved being a fed and she loved being a mum. She had a fulfilling life, even if it was too short. I just have to be grateful that the years she got were happy ones.”


	15. Chapter 15

David swept his eyes around the abandoned hotel room. There wasn’t all that much here as far as he was concerned but then again, he wasn’t Charlie. Chances were that something all the agents overlooked would turn out to be the key to the mathematicians’ solution, it usually was. So that was why all the agents in the room were photographing and cataloguing everything inside.

As Megan began shuffling through the few items on the desk a map caught David’s’ attention and he gently picked it up in his gloved hands.

There was a line drawn on the map, leading from Washington state all the way through Oregon and into California. It clearly marked the journey the shooter had taken on his way to Las Angeles but what caught David’s attention was the unanticipated extra markings on the map. From LA the trip continued turning east and ending in to a small town in the north-east of Arizona.

“Alright guys,” David called out, “make sure you get everything before you head back in. Ben, you’re with me.”

~***~

“Don, we’ve got something big,” David announced, when he and Ben returned to office.

“What have you got David?” Don replied, turning away from where he and Colby were staring at the screens in front of them.

“These weren’t the shooters only targets,” David explained, laying the map out on a nearby desk.

“You found this in the hotel room?” Don asked, staring down at the map.

“Yeah, it was with a bunch of other papers on the desk.” David said, “everyone else is still back there combing through everything.”

“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” Don smiled, “Get the others back in here and we’ll start chasing this down.”

After a quick phone call from David, the rest of the team returned to the office, leaving Ethan behind to work alongside the CSI unit.

“Alright how many schools are there in Winslow, Arizona?” Don asked once the team was amassed within the room.

“3 Elementary schools,” Mark announced as he quickly typed at the computer in front of him, “2 middle schools and 3 high schools.”

“Ok well we have no way of knowing yet whether Lawson had a partner in any of this so I want Arizona state police and the local field office informed and I want security tightened at all of those schools until we can find a way to narrow it down,” Don ordered. “Charlie tell me there was something else in that room to help you find the link.”

“Not yet, Don,” Charlie replied, “but with the added data set of Arizona I should have a better chance at finding the link between them.”

“Charlie might not have found a link,” Colby interrupted from his desk, “but I think I just did. 13 years ago, when Lawson was 8, his grade teacher was a Mr. Declan Martin, the same Declan Martin that was one of the victims of the Washington shooting.”

“Ok,” Ben said, “But it’s a small town. I’m sure Lawson had a connection with most of his victims in the first shooting, so how relevant is that?”

“Well on its own, it’s not,” Colby admitted,” But, I just came across an allegation that was made against Martin that same year. An allegation that labelled him as a paedophile but the 8-year-old, male student was never named.”

“How the hell was this guy still teaching?” David questioned.

“Because the student changed his mind,” Colby explained, “The file says the boy changed his story and claimed to have made the whole thing up on a dare. Nothing more was ever done about it.”

“I’ve got something else,” Charlie added, “I just managed to get my hands on the enrolments for the school district of Winslow, Arizona and I once I plugged in into the equation it identified a commonality almost straight away. A Mr. Steven Hopkins is currently a teacher at Jefferson Elementary in Winslow and was also a teaching at the same school in Washington as Martin, 13 years ago.”

“Sounds to me like whatever happened at that school 13 years ago is the reason for all of this,” Don pointed out. “Who feels like taking a drive with me?”

~***~

7 hours later, Don pulled his Dodge Charger into the parking lot of the Flagstaff, Arizona FBI regional office. As he cut the engine, Colby, Megan and Mark piled out of the car and together, the four agents entered the small, two-storey, grey structure.

“Federal Bureau of Investigation, how may I help you?” greeted the bored secretary behind the desk.

“Hi,” Don smiled, “we’re the agents from LA. We called ahead to let you guys know that we were coming.”

“Of course,” she smiled in return, “I’ll just let our lead agent know you’re here.”

They waited patiently for a few minutes before an agent in his mid-thirties approached them.

“Hi there, guys,” he greeted, “Welcome to Arizona. I’m Bruce Edwards, lead agent out here.”

Don shook hands with the local agent and once the team were ushered into a nearby conference room he quickly introduced them all to Agent Edwards.

“This is my team; Agents Colby Granger, Megan Reeves and Mark Palmer. Thanks for agreeing to work with us on this one.”

“Don’t mention it,” Edwards replied, “I spoke with your Agent Sinclair and he’s caught me up and I’ve called ahead to the local Winslow PD to let them know we’re coming.”

“Alright. We’re ready to move when you are,” Don replied.

“Great, let’s go. Two of you can ride with me if you want,” Edwards offered as they all headed out to the parking lot. In the end Colby and Mark joined Edwards in his car, while Don and Megan followed behind.

~***~

While their fellow agents, drove across Arizona, the remaining members of the team continued to sift through the background information they had on every victim of the CalSci shooting, trying to find the link between LA, Washington and Arizona.

“This is impossible!” Ethan sighed after hours of staring at his computer screen. “Even if we do find who Lawson was after at CalSci, we still have no idea why. I mean if this was all about him being molested 13 years ago, why did he snap now? What happened to make him pick up a gun and kill 48 people and injure 76, with the plan to kill more people when he got to Arizona?”

“Actually I think you might be on to something Ethan,” Charlie agreed enthusiastically. “Why did he decide now of all times? And if he was after specific targets for revenge, why massacre innocent bystanders? I should start another equation. Perhaps I can map the events and triggers in the shooters personal life and find out if something happened to set him off.”

“Charlie don’t you think you should be focusing on identifying the CalSci target?” David asked.

“Oh that’s basically running itself at this point,” Charlie replied, dismissively. “I can do both.”

“OK then,” David smiled knowingly. “Knock yourself out, Charlie.”


	16. Chapter 16

“Good afternoon Sir,” Don greeted when the door in front of him opened. The man at the door was unassuming, in his mid-30’s and wearing a simple brown suit.

“Can I help you?” he asked, taking in the five agents standing on his doorstep.

“Mr Hopkins, I’m Special Agent Don Eppes with the FBI, may we come in?” Don replied.

The man, Mr Hopkins, looking both alarmed and confused, stood silently in the doorway before he snapped out of his shock and invited the agents in. Don waited until they were all seated in the living room of the house before he spoke again.

“Mr Hopkins, we don’t mean to alarm you but we have reason to believe that you were, until recently, the target of a planned shooting,” Don announced, watching closely for any reaction. “Can you tell me what the name Rick Lawson means to you?”

For a brief moment, Hopkins flinched at Lawson’s name. he quickly recovered his composure, but not quick enough to escape the notice of the five Special Agents, amassed around his living room.

“I can’t say the name rings a bell,” Hopkins lied, “but this man wanted to kill me?”

“Don’t lie to us,” Don warned, “We know that when Lawson was 8 he accused one of his teachers of molesting him but later withdrew the complaint. We also know you were a teacher at his school at the time. Do yourself a favour and tell us the truth so that we can protect you Mr. Hopkins.”

“OK! OK!” Hopkins burst, “He was a student of mine over a decade ago, but it wasn’t me that he accused.”

“Oh we know that,” Megan admitted, “the teacher he accused was your college, Declan Martin. Lawson shot and killed him last week.”

“Declan’s dead?” Hopkins squawked.

“And so are 48 other people,” Colby added. “Lawson to an AK-47 to your old school and shot it up before taking a road trip to LA where he opened fire at the California Institute of Science and we have evidence that before we stopped him, he was heading here. So why don’t you tell us Mr Hopkins, if Ricky Lawson shot Declan Martin because he was molested when he was a child, why was he coming after you?”

Under the intense gazes of the agents in the room Hopkins snapped easily.

“I was young and foolish!” he gushed, “I’d just started teaching after I graduated college and Declan took me under his wing. I had no idea and when Declan invited me to join them I said no.”

“But you didn’t stop them,” Edwards accused.

“How could I?” Hopkins sobbed.

“What do you mean ‘they’?” Don questioned. “Who else was involved?”

“Adam,” Hopkins sighed, “Adam Perkins.”

“The professor in Mathematics?” Megan asked.

“Yes, I suppose that’s who Ricky went after in Los Angeles,” Hopkins offered.

“But we couldn’t find any connection between him and Washington,” Mark confessed.

“He was working on a new paper and his girlfriend at the time was working in the office at the school,” Hopkins explained, “Declan met him at a bar and the two became friends. He was only in town for a few months and he left not long after Ricky’s allegation.”

The room was quiet after Hopkins concluded his confession.

“Mr Hopkins,” Don said professionally as he stood and walked towards the man, “I’m going to need you to accompany us to Los Angeles to assist in our investigations.”

Hopkins nodded in grim resignation and allowed the agents to lead him from the house and out towards the cars.

After quickly thanking Agent Edwards for his help with the case, the Los Angeles agents all climbed into the cramped car and began the long drive back to California.

~***~

As Colby drove them out of Arizona and back into California, Don pulled out his phone from where he sat in the passenger seat.

“Hey Chuck,” Don greeted when the call connected.

“Don, I’m glad you called,” Charlie interrupted. “My equation has found that a few of the students in the 2nd shooting were from Washington State, but I don’t think it’s related to the case. I have however stumbled across what might have been the shooters trigger.”

“Glad to hear it Chuck,” Don replied, “But we’ve found the CalSci target. It was the professor in the lecture hall.”

“Dr Perkins?” Charlie gasped, “but why on earth would Lawson want to hurt Adam?”

“Hopkins admitted that Martin and Perkins were molesting Ricky Lawson, which is why they were killed and Ricky was coming after Hopkins because he knew and never said anything,” Don explained.

“That’s impossible,” Charlie refuted. “I knew Adam; he was a great mathematician. There’s no way that he was a paedophile. Besides, he has no connection to Washington.”

“Sorry Chuck but it all fits,” Don apologized. “Apparently he was dating one of the office girls at Lawson’s school and went to stay with her for a few months while he was writing a paper.”

“No, you’re wrong!” Charlie replied, “I’ll prove it.”

“Wait, Charlie!” Don said as the line went quiet. “What about the trigger? God damn it.”

“Trigger?” Colby asked as Don hung up the phone.

“Apparently Charlie knows what set Lawson off but he didn’t tell me what it was,” Don explained. “He refuses to believe Perkins was involved.”


	17. Chapter 17

Charlie paced in front of his whiteboard in frustration.

“It’s not possible!” he ranted. “I know Adam and he wouldn’t do this!”

“Charlie,” Ben sighed, “Hopkin’s story checks out. I just got off the phone with Perkins’ ex-girlfriend and she confirmed that he was living with her for that four-month period.”

“I don’t care!” Charlie replied. “I’ll prove he’s innocent.”

Ben was cut off from replying by the arrival of an agent at the door of the conference room.

“Hi,” the woman greeted with a knock on the door frame, “I was told to head over here. I’m the new agent for David Sinclair’s Violent Crimes unit.”

“Yeah, that’s us,” Ben replied, motioning for the new comer to join them. “David’s just out following a lead but I’m sure he’ll be back soon. I’m Ben Lowe, this is Charlie.”

“Dannielle Applin,” the woman offered, shaking Ben’s hand and then turning to Charlie, “But everyone calls me Danny.”

“Welcome to the team, Danny,” Charlie greeted.

“Thanks,” Danny smiled, “So what are you guys working on right now?”

Ben turned towards the board and began catching the new agent up on the case and while he was discussing Hopkin’s confession, David and Ethan entered the room.

“We tracked down Lawson’s car finally,” Ethan announced as they entered the room. “It’s getting towed here as we speak. Oh, hi there.”

“Hi,” Danny smiled, extending her hand, “Agent Danny Applin, your new team member.”

“Ethan McCormick,” Ethan replied.

“And I’m David Sinclair,” the older man added, also shaking Danny’s hand.

~***~

Colby froze when he followed Don and Megan back into the conference room. Mark passed him as he stopped just inside the door and lead a very quiet Steven Hopkins ahead of him. The room was full of agents working away in front of computers or shuffling through files. None of this was unusual activity, instead, what gave Colby pause was the shockingly familiar blonde curls in front of him. For a brief moment he truly believed it was Hayley. His breath was ripped from his lungs and his heart skipped a beat as he watched the woman in shock.

She was standing beside Charlie, dressed in a fitted dark suit, while both of them stared at the equations in front of them. Colby couldn’t avoid the overwhelming grief that crashed over him like a wave when he realised this woman was too tall to be his wife, her shoulders wider and her stance unfamiliar.

It was Don that first noticed Colby had frozen in the doorway. He followed his son-in-laws haunted gaze towards his brother and the stranger, instantly realising what had given Colby pause. He met Colby’s eye and gave him a sympathetic look before drawing everyone’s attention, giving the younger man time to recollect himself.

“Ok guys, this is Steven Hopkins,” he announced, gesturing to the quiet man standing beside Mark. “And he’s here to assist us in the completion of our investigation. As you know we have a motive now, all we need to establish is why Lawson decided now. What happened to set him off? So GATES?” Don yelled.

The Washington agent poked his head through the doorway, right beside Colby.

“You rang?” he asked, causing Megan to roll her eyes in frustration.

“Feel like showing us around your office? We need to interview Lawson’s family and friends again.”

~***~

Less than an hour later three FBI issued vehicles were leaving Los Angeles and driving north toward the border between California and Oregon.

Gates was driving the lead car, with Ethan and Ben as his passengers, while Don was behind the wheel of the second vehicle. Megan and Mark were his passengers, leaving David, Colby and the new agent, Danny, in the last car of the convoy.

“So what happened to you in Arizona?” David asked, sparing a brief glance at Colby before looking back at the road ahead of them.

“Nothing man, why do you ask?” Colby replied, turning in the passenger seat to stare at David where he sat behind the steering wheel.

“Because you’ve been off since you all got back from Arizona. You never said a word while we were at the office,” David explained.

“At the risk of sticking my nose in something I have no right to,” Danny added, leaning forward in her seat to look at her new colleagues. “But, you kind of looked like you’d seen a ghost while Eppes was briefing us.”

“I thought I had,” Colby mumbled, looking back at her.

David followed his gaze and finally made the connection.

“Oh crap,” he exclaimed, “you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” Danny asked.

“One of the agents you’re replacing had really similar hair to you,” David explained, while Colby remained quiet. “From behind, the two of you would have looked rather similar.”

“Agent Granger?” Danny replied, “I read about what happened to her. I’m sorry for opening old wounds.”

Before Colby was forced to respond, his phone began to ring.

“Granger,” he answered, relieved at being able to avoid the situation in the car for even a short moment.

“Colby,” Alan greeted, “Are you busy?”

“Alan, hey. No I’m free to talk. What’s wrong? Are the kids ok?” Colby replied anxiously, relief quickly dissipating.

“Liam’s having a bad morning,” Alan admitted. “He got himself worked up over breakfast so I let him stay home from school, but I think he could really do with a chat.”

“Of course,” Colby agreed. “Put him on.”

While he waited for Alan to pass the phone he turned to David and quickly explained the situation.

“Liam’s having a bad day,” he informed his partner.

David flashed his best friend a look of sympathy.

“Daddy?” Liam’s voice was quiet and pained when it reached Colby through the phone.

“Hey buddy,” Colby greeted softly, “What’s up?”

“Are you coming home tonight?” the small boy asked.

Colby’s heart broke in response to the pain in his son’s voice.

“Buddy, I’m sorry,” he replied, “But I don’t think I will. I’m probably going to be out of town for at least a day or two.”

“Ok,” Liam sighed, voice thick with tears as he began to quietly sob.

“Liam, I’m sorry,” Colby apologized, “I love you.”

“I love you too daddy,” Liam replied before hanging up.

Colby was grateful that neither of the car’s occupants commented on the tears escaping from the corners of his eyes.


	18. Chapter 18

They spent 2 days in Washington, interviewing Lawson’s family as well as his neighbours and the people he worked with, before they finally found his motive. Once they had answered their final question they said a very unemotional farewell to Agent Gates, climbed back into their cars and began the long drive back to California.

Don flexed his hand, where it gripped the steering wheel and as the miles slipped by beneath them, Megan made notes amongst their files from where she sat in the passenger seat.

“So in conclusion we’re saying that Ricky Lawson was dumped by his long term girlfriend and he blamed the abuse he’d suffered from as a kid for why he couldn’t make the relationship work?” Megan asked as she wrote. “And so he took his semi-automatic weapon to the nearby school where one of his abusers, Mr Declan Martin, worked as a teacher and he opened fire. During the shooting he killed 22 people and caused injury to another 31. Local police and FBI were informed, but by the time they arrived on the scene, the shooter had fled. He was located 6 days later when he walked onto the campus of the California Institute of Science where he shot the second of his abusers, Dr Adam Perkins. Perkins was pronounced dead on the scene as were 26 other students and faculty members, 45 others were injured in the attack. In this instance, FBI arrived on the scene before the shooter could flee and was fatally shot by officers when he fired on them.

After the perpetrators death, agents investigated and found plans for a third attack against, Mr Steven Hopkins, a teacher in Winslow, Arizona.”

“That sounds like everything,” Don agreed. “The rest of us can write up our detailed reports when we get back to the office and then we can close this case.”

~***~

Later that evening, for the first time since Hayley’s wake, there was a large group of people crowded around the backyard of the craftsman house.

All of the agents along with the Eppes family were spread out across the lawn behind the house, sipping beers and sharing comfortable conversation in the twilight. After introducing Danni to his father, Don scanned the crowd in search of his grandchildren. He found them clingy tightly to their father where he sat on the edge of the porch. They were talking in low murmurs which became clearer as Don approached them.

“You guys have been so amazingly brave these last few days,” he heard Colby say, “I know it was really hard for you while I’ve been gone and I’m so proud of you guys. I love you so much.”

“Hey team,” Don smiled, as he sat beside his family.

“Hi Grandpa Don,” Liam replied, loosening his grip on his father just enough to turn and look at his grandfather.

“Guys can you give grandpa and I a minute?” Colby asked gently.

Both children nodded and after kissing their father on the cheek they ran across the grass to where Larry and Charlie were chatting happily.

“You doing ok?” Don asked in the silence, handing a beer to Colby and taking a drink from his own.

“I’m doing better than yesterday,” Colby offered, taking a long drag from his bottle.

“I guess that’s all we can hope for really,” Don admitted, “For everyday to feel a little bit better than the last.”

Colby nodded as he watched his kids run around the large yard, dodging people and trying not to fall into the koi pond. The corners of his mouth curved upwards in the ghost of a smile as the sound of their laughter reached him.

“We’re going to be ok,” he declared, finishing his beer and standing to re-join the party around them.


End file.
